The Portland daily press., 1887-12-06
Beaten and ROBBED
Old Peter Bennett, Of Newport, Loses
His Treasure
Story Of a Daring and Brutal Rob:
berry.
A Uncovered Trunk that Held ThOus.
ands.
The Man Who Wouldn't Trust the
Banks RueS 1t.
Penobscet County has Another Great
Sensation.
Especial to the Press.l

EAST NENPORT, me-, Lee. o.--AH Now
port and all the towns around here are excit-
ed over the boldest and most successful rob
berry that has happened in Maine for years.
Last night persons unknown entered tie
house Of old Peter Bennett, who lives about
three. quarters of mile from the depot here,
dragged him from his bed, brutally beat him,
and made away with $4,000, the savings of
years. These are the bare facts. The cir
cumstances of the case are the talk of the
county, and will be for days to come.
For years Peter Bennett has been char
acter in Penobscot County. Asman of little
or no education. with a desire for nothing
so far as any one has found out, and mated a
wife whose tastes and requirements were
like his own, Peter Bennett has gone on by
methods thrifty and by some others
not so thrifty, piling up dollar upon
dollar until be became one of the
RICHEST men in Penobscot County.
Some say he is worth. or was worth before
the robbery, hundred thousand dollars.
Fifty thousand dollars is considered mod
crate estimate. He never spent dollar if
could possibly help it, The little house on
the hill at East Newport is hardly comforta-
BILE. Repairs have been few and far be-
tween. Near it is a fair orchard. on whose
branches hang year after year beautiful bur
dens of fruit, and in which in their season
haye hummed the bees from Peter Benefits
hundred hives. But the apples and the juice
of the apples, and particularly the juice, have
gone with the honey to swell the pile of dol
lars. If he ever drank his own cider or ate
hie Io,,lf
it with sense that a terrible waste was 60
ing on. When he drives to the station or to
Bangor, he goes in an antiquated and rickety
vehicle, though it is said he always had a
good horse. In banks, or the other agencies
for caring for property in which most people
trust, Bennett put no confidence
When the Newport Savings Bank
got into difficulty he drew out
his money in just the nick of time
After that no savings bank was safe enough
for him. no matter if all the bank examiners
in the Union vouched for it. He went into
Bangor, it is said. drew out all the money he
had in bank there; and with the money in
one hand and revolver III the other was
driven back here by man whom be carried
along as special body guard. With notes
well secured by mortgages, however, he felt
quite secure; and there were a good many
notes with the names of Newport farmers
and other citizens attached to them in the
trunk whence Benefits cash possessions
were taken last night. BY inheritance, too,
as well as by scrimping and the natural in
crease of money out at lofty interest, did
Peter Bennett grow richer. The people here
tell of an old woman, relative of Bennett,
who lived by begging and collecting rags
and other odds and ends that nobody else
wanted When she was alive she lived in
little old house on Benefits land, and when
she died she left to her landlord and relative,
so it is said, $4,000.
All this money, the accumulated results of
painful savings, unexpected inheritance and
prolific interest account, Bennett would
trust to no bank, or no strong box he made
no secret that he distrusted all the methods
by which other rich men keep their boards
safe; but by an unGccountable freak, he was
equally free with the information that he
had all his own wealth in his own house. In
open court in Bangor, not long ago, in the
case Of Bennett VS.. Town of Etna, he testi-
fed that he kept his money in his house in
various odd places, between the leaves of
books, and in trunks. What was told to
everybody, everybody knew, of course.
When Peter Bennett went to bed last
night, in the sitting room, which is also the
bed room of himself and his aged and de-
mented wife, his worldly possessions were
in a zinc-covered trunk that stood in the
room. Papers, notes ana mortgages covered
the bottom of the trunk and filed it half
full. On top of them were two smaller
trunks, filled with bills and specie. Exactly
bow much money there was in the trunk the
old man does not know. He had not counted
it for two years. When he did last count it
there was $4,000 in bills and $1,000 in
gold. Since then he has added as much as
$4,000, he thinks, and in addition there were
$2500 in bills belonging to his wife, The
money was packed with all the skill and cum
ming of a miser. But the trunk was not
guarded with equal care. Whenever man
went to him for money land a great many
there were that did so, with good security
of courseO Bennett would takeshim into the
room, open the trunk and take out the cash.
Many are the stories that went abroad
through the country towns of the wealth of
this old man. Last night the money was
| guarded as usual. A rope was tied around
| the uncovered trunk. table was put over
| it and tied to it, and then the table was
| lashed TO the floor. In the house, besides
| Bennett, who is about 20 years old, were his
| wife, old also and of feeble mind, and a
granddaughter, who. with Frank Patten,
her husband, slept In an adjoining room
ALI the old man remembers is that he was
awakened in the night by a blow on the
head, and to find himself on the floor with a
man standing over him. The man was OF
medium height and thick set.-that Is all he
remembers OF him. The man struck him
again, and the old man in his agony and ter,
ror called "Patten,." "Patten.n Al
| this the man sshouted:i ''Shut up Bennett
| or | will blow your id brains out" struck
| him again over the head and discharged a
revolver. 1t was probably about this time
that Frank Patten and his wife jumped out
| of their bed room window and betook them
selves to flight in the direction of the house
| of Frank Bennett. neighbor and the son Of
| the old man. As for the old man, he had
| lust life enough to drag himself under the
| bed, whence he heard the ruffian who had
assaulted him, with companion cursing the
| heavy trunk which they were dragging out
| of the house.
When they had gone with his dearly-be
loved money the old man rushed from the
| house, undressed and half frantic. He wa;
met by his son, who had been routed out by
the fleeing granddaughter and her heroic
| spouse. The old man was persuaded to &c
back to his house, while the younger men
| said they would "hunt them up" They
went into the orchard, and there, they say,
| they found the large zinc trunk and little
black one. Young Benefits wife says she
saw three men leaving the scene, running at
the top of their speed.
At o'clock the neighbors were summoned
and doctor attended to the wounds of th
elder Bennett, which though severe are no
| necessarily fatal.
By the morning train officers came iron
Bangor They found in the orchard wher
the trunks were rifed Smith IL Wesson re
/ volver, 38 calibre, five shots, with one charg
gone In the house was found another re
volver, a six shot Colts Of 43 calibre and O
an antiquated pattern. There was one charg
much worm An old fashioned dark lantern
and five red-leather straps were also left il
the house. The second of the small trunks
was found on the railroad track, rified as tn
other had been. A bank bill was found nea
by.
The first impressions here this morninI
were that no stranger had hand in the rob
| IA fra m